Disclosed is a process for recovering volatile aroma compounds from a tea
material. The process comprises the steps of: incubating the tea material
in an aqueous medium; subjecting the incubated tea material to
evaporation to obtain aroma-laden vapours; and condensing the aroma-laden
vapours to recover an aroma condensate comprising volatile aroma
compounds. The tea material is subjected to a step of extraction of
soluble solids prior to step (a) and the aqueous medium in step (a)
comprises an enzyme selected from cellulase, pectinase,
.beta.-glucosidase, primeverosidase or a mixture thereof.